Things to remember about Whitney
1. It's not freaking K2. The articles are greatly exaggerated about the difficulty. It's a normal hike with altitude that takes forever. It's not even mountaineering. And you don't need multiple days. 2. At the same time, you see unprepared people on the mountain. People get turned around at the switchbacks a lot. I've been on the mountain twice, and summited once, with a third summit attempt coming up, and there is often at least one person in my group that I'm worried about. So basically: train seriously but don't freak out.